“Cade never liked you, or your husband. He hid me from you to protect me. I always knew that he didn’t like you, but he never told me why, never went into the details, and now I know. It’s because you’re only concerned with appearances and your prestige. You don’t care about being kind nor doing what really matters. You only want status and applause.
“I didn’t manipulate Della in any way. I never wanted Cade back in my life. He broke my heart ten years ago, and the last thing I wanted was to ever see him again. I told him that I didn’t want a relationship and that I wanted nothing to do with him anymore. If you have a problem with this relationship, then you can go talk to the man you raised to be a coward and who can’t even stand up to his own parents.”
Tears began to stream down my face again, undoubtedly ruining my makeup, and I took a sip of coffee to steady myself. It was too hot, and I only ended up burning my tongue. “Della’s a wonderful woman and she deserves better people than you as her in-laws. She deserves to be married to someone she loves. All I did was tell her to do what made her truly happy and that if she was having panic attacks about this wedding, she probably shouldn’t go through with it.”
The emotions were just flowing out of freely, undeterred. “Did it ever occur to you to trust her at her word? You used her. You’re convinced that she doesn’t have a will of her own! I wanted this wedding to go as planned, I needed this job, but now here we are. Because you raised your son to disrespect people the way you disrespect them, he hired a private investigator to find out everything about my life, to invade my privacy, and now my son can’t even go outside without reporters trying to use him like a piece of meat!”
Silence reigned on the other end of the line. For a moment I thought that Melinda had hung up. Then she said, her voice much meeker, “You should have come to us when you found out that you were pregnant. Hiding the child wasn’t fair to Cade, or to me and my husband. We missed out on years of getting to know our grandchild. We missed out on his first steps, his first words, his first loose tooth….”
To my utter shock, she sounded heartbroken.
“What would you have done?” I asked her. “If I’d showed up, a trailer trash teenage girl with no father and a horrible mother, knocked up out of wedlock and claiming that the child belonged to your son? Cade never told you he was dating me. What would you have said? Would you have even believed me? Or would you have kicked me out, or paid me to keep me quiet, or called me a liar?
“Even if you did believe me, would you have forced me to go to the college of your choice and made me marry Cade immediately? Would you have decided to control my life the way you control every aspect of Cade’s?
“Your son told me, after months of dating, that I meant nothing to him and I was just a fling, just for fun until he got out of this town and went on to pursue his real future. I was a teenager and I was heartbroken—I’d just been treated like trash. Why would I trust your son to be kind to me after what he did? Why would I trust you after he’d made it clear that he distrusted and disliked you?
“You and your son gave me no reason to believe that I’d receive a warm welcome coming to you. I am sorry you missed out on those milestones with your grandson. I truly am. My intention was never to hurt anyone. But I had to protect my child and myself. Cade had made it clear that I didn’t belong in his life or yours. And after this phone call, and the way you’re talking to me, the assumptions you made about me—I see no reason to have my mind changed.”
Melinda was quiet for a long time again. When she spoke, her tone was even and contemplative. “I…I see. I…apologize for my assumptions. I should…I have to go.”
She paused, “You’ve given me…quite a lot to think about. But I would like—I would very much like to meet my grandson. Please. I would like you to consider letting me meet him.”
“I’ll think about it, and let you know,” I replied.
“You can reach me at this number,” Melinda said. “I’m…sorry about the reporters. I’ll see what I can do. Have a pleasant day.”
“You as well.”
I hung up and my legs gave out, sending me sinking to the floor.
Thank God that Drew and Caitlyn were out back. Neither of them could see me as I shook and took deep breaths to try and calm myself.
At least Melinda didn’t seem to hate me…right? She had willing listened to me as I’d ranted away. She’d seemed affected by what I had said about Cade and her behavior to people who were not in the same elite circle as her. If Cade was convinced that going away was the answer but Melinda wanted to see her grandchild, maybe she could convince him to come back.
Maybe I could be a little hopeful, after all.
31
Cade
The moment I set foot back in D.C., I regretted my decision.
I missed Laura terribly, like I was missing a limb, and my heart ached from my desire to get to know Drew more. D.C. felt gray and dull—it didn’t have a heart and I didn’t know whether I should stay or turn around and fly back.
But what would flying back do except confirm for the reporters that Drew and Laura were people to keep an eye on? I would never forgive myself for not controlling my temper at the gallery that night and for allowing reporters to invade their life.
My head was full of these depressing thoughts as I travelled back home, where my parents jumped on me the second I set foot in the house.
“What are you two doing here?” I blurted out. This was my townhome.
“How else are we supposed to get to the bottom of this?” Dad snapped. “I want to know exactly what happened. Is she lying about the child? Did she entrap you? Is she demanding money?”
A guilty look crossed Mom’s face and she turned away, looking out the window instead where various reporters were hanging out trying to pretend that they weren’t waiting for a chance to jump on me like a pack of jackals.
Anger flared up inside me. “You know, this is why Laura never came to us about Drew. Because she knew that you’d react exactly like this.”
“Like what!?” Dad demanded. “Like concerned parents who don’t want their son’s career ruined?”